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This study aims to evaluate the effect of probiotic provitamin A cassava hydrolysate with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (hLGG) on weight and lipid profile of Wistar rats and its glycemic index using Wistar rats and human subjects.

Adult male Wistar rats (n = 40, 120–150 g) were orally administered provitamin A cassava hydrolysate with 1 × 10¹⁰, 2 × 10¹⁰ and 4 × 10¹⁰ CFU/g encapsulated or CFU/mL free Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for 30 days, during which weight and lipid profile of rats were monitored. Blood glucose levels of rats and human subjects were also measured in Oral Glucose Tolerance Test to determine the Glycemic indices of hLGG.

Rats administered the highest doses of free or encapsulated hLGG [(4 × 10¹⁰ CFU) (PHE4 and PHF4, respectively)] had the lowest (18.2 ± 0.7 and 8.0 ± 0.6%, respectively, p < 0.001) percentage body weight gain compared to control (40 ± 0.6%). Lowest cholesterol and triglyceride (42.4 ± 0.5 and 44.4 ± 0.7 g/dL, p < 0.001, respectively) were observed in rats administered PHE4, with the lowest plasma glucose concentrations in PHE4 and PHF4 groups (43 ± 1 and 49 ± 0.7 g/dL, p < 0.001, respectively). Oral Glucose Tolerance Test for rats and human subjects showed lower peak blood glucose levels and glycemic indices in hLGG groups compared to controls in a dose-dependent manner.

Consumption of soft drinks, which supply non-nutritive energy, may lead to degenerative metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. Beverages with probiotics such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, on the other hand, offer a positive weight management approach. Development of non-dairy beverages such as provitamin A cassava hLGG is ongoing. Provitamin A cassava hLGG showed its ability to control weight gain, blood glucose levels and serum lipids. Thus, the beverage can be consumed as a healthy alternative to soft drinks and for weight management.

In these days of jargon and slang, to the purist it must seem that little is described by its real name, that is, during conversation. Most people refer to the city as “the smoke” and the city‐dweller's pseudonym for the country is “out in the sticks”, which, of course, could mean that “the sticks” are kindling to a fire that has not been lit, with the city “smoke” as the end‐product of the fire that is burning up those who rush hither and thither in its bedlamite streets and ugly office blocks. The cottage, the church and inn no longer completely fill the lives of the villagers; they now have piped water supplies, electricity and telephones; deep freezers, colour television and cars; they have moved closer to the city standards of comfort and convenience without losing any of the enduring qualities which make them different. And the countryman is very different to the town‐dweller—in outlook, habit and countenance. Even the villager who works in the town and city, and nowadays there are many of them, would not change his home in the country for a flat or terrace house in a mean street, despite the long journeying to and fro. At one time, it had to be a special type of girl who chose a home in these rural settings, with few or perhaps no neighbours and no corner‐shop, but now more and more are realizing that life in a village is easier on the whole family.